FFWD.L Share News (FFWD)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of director dealings reported in London on Thursday.
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FastForward Innovations on Thursday said it has agreed a placing to raise USD8.0 million from a number of high-profile investors, selling 37.4 million new shares at 15.0 pence each to fund new investments and provide working capital.

"The placing was significantly over-subscribed. The fact that the placing was over-subscribed is a very positive indicator for FFWD, given the global market conditions and the fact that we did not offer this placing to institutional investors," Chief Executive Lorne Abony said.

Abony said several "smart money" investors took part in the placing, including angel investor Gigi Levy-Weiss, bwin.party digital entertainment Chief Executive Norbert Teufelberger, Jim Mellon - who was ranked 128th in the Sunday Times' Rich List in 2015 with a wealth of GBP850.0 million - resource financier Stephen Dattels, and Russell Geyser.

Abony acquired 5.7 million placing shares, giving him a total of 26.4 million, or just shy of a 20% stake in the company.

Fellow directors Dattels and Mellon acquired 2.3 million and 1.2 million shares in the placing, increasing their existing holdings to give them stakes of around 11% and 7.8%, respectively.

Geyser subscribed for 9.4 million shares in the placing, giving him a total of 12.6 million shares and a 9.4% stake, while Teufelberger subscribed for 4.7 million shares in the placing, giving him a total of 8.8 million shares and a 6.6% stake.

Levy-Weiss bought 4.7 million shares, making him a new shareholder with a 3.5% stake.

Shares in FastForward closed up 18% at 14.20 pence on Thursday.
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Noricum Gold issued a substantial amount of shares at a discounted price in order to move its Bolnisi copper and gold project in the Republic of Georgia into production in the second half of 2016.

The gold miner said it raised GBP1.0 million after issuing 1.25 billion new shares in the company at a price of 0.08 pence per share - an 11% discount to the closing price of Noricum shares on Wednesday of 0.09p.

In addition to that substantial placing, Noricum issued a further 63.0 million new shares to consultants of the company to settle fees owed. Those shares were also issued at 0.08p each.

The 1.31 billion shares issued Thursday represent around 32% of the company's enlarged issued share capital, with a total of 4.00 billion shares in issue following the transactions.

The 1.25 billion shares were issued to existing and new investors, with all but one of Noricum's board members also acquiring shares in the process.

Chairman Michael Hutchinson purchased the most, acquiring 31.3 million shares to up his stake in the company to 0.9%. Non-Executive Roderick McIllree was the only board member not to purchase any shares in the latest round of fundraising.

Managing Director Gregory Kuenzel, Executive Director Martyn Churchhouse and Exploration Director Jeremy Whybrow all acquired 6.3 million shares each, pushing their stakes up to 0.62%, 6.49% and 0.27% respectively.

Senior Non-Executive Director Marcus Edwards-Jones purchased 5.0 million shares to push his stake up to 0.19%.

The funds will be used to try to get the company into early stage production as soon as the third quarter of 2016, focused on starter pits located at the Tsitel Sopeli and Kvemo Bolnisi project areas which lie within the wider Bolnisi project in Georgia.

The stock closed down 0.1% at 0.899p Thursday.
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Ortac Resources said Chairman Anthony Balme bought 10 million shares at a price of 0.0275 pence each on Thursday. In a separate statement, Ortac said Balme bought 10 million shares at 0.025 pence each on Wednesday. Following the purchases, Balme now holds 302.6 million shares, which represents 6.98% stake in the miner. The stock closed up 9.1% at 0.0300p Thursday.
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Stobart Group said Chief Executive Andrew Tinkler sold 824,939 shares at 104p each on Wednesday. Following the sale, Tinkler holds 28.5 million shares, equivalent to a 8.27% stake in the infrastructure and support services company. The stock closed down 2.2% at 101.75p Thursday.
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Paragon Group of Companies said Non-Executive Director Alan Fletcher bought 22,930 shares at 100 pence each on Thursday. Following this transaction, Fletcher holds 82,930 shares. The buy-to-let lender and consumer debt purchaser on Wednesday said its financial performance met its expectations in the quarter to the end of December and that it remains confident on the outlook for the buy-to-let market in the UK, despite regulatory changes. The stock closed down 3.3% at 316.10p Thursday.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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